Do you remember the 1960s UFO hoaxes that hit Wiltshire?

A mystery about the sudden appearance of several unidentified flying objects around Wiltshire gripped the county in 1967.

News of the strange silver discoveries dotted around Hungerford, Chippenham and Clevedon splashed across the 'Evening' Advertiser's front page on September 4.

Farmer Richard Jennings and his daughter Mary in Chippenham found one on Elm Tree Farm at Queens Bridge in Chippenham and soon saw various authority figures pop round to inspect it as well as other possible spaceships that appeared at Clevedon and Hungerford.

The seemingly-unconnected 'landings' baffled experts from the Ministry of Defence, which noted that the three places where the UFOs were found - and the three others further afield around the south of England - were all in a direct line equidistant.

The front page of the Adver on September 4, 1967, about the discovery of the 'UFOs'

Farmer Richard Jennings and daughter Mary found a strange object on Elm Tree Farm in Chippenham on September 4, 1967

A few days later, on September 7, the Adver reported on the reality behind this close encounter - it was all an elaborate hoax.

A Southern Command bomb disposal squad blew up the Chippenham saucer in a safe part of the town's refuse dump and saw a strange, stinky mixture that resembled pig swill spilling out of it.

The second big bang exploded the top dome, which included a battery connected to a bleeper and loudspeaker.

An elaborate prank in September 1967 involved six ‘UFOs’ landing around Wiltshire and Bath

As it turned out, students from Farnborough Technical College had created and distributed the devious devices as part of a clever stunt.

The college's principal later called Chippenham Police and asked for the material back because a national paper had offered them money for the story if what had become known as 'The Chippenham Thing' was returned.

Police were still mulling over whether or not to send the faux UFOs back to their leader at the time our follow-up article went to press.

Chief Inspector Frank Dummett said at the time: "It was obviously a very elaborate hoax, exceedingly well organised, and must have cost a good deal of money to carry out."

This deception did not deter true believers from continuing to seek concrete proof of extra-terrestrial life.

On February 10, 1980, 13-year-old Ryan Hodges, of Mayenne Place in Devizes, was surprised to spot a white object with red bars in one of the photos he took while attending motorcycle scrambles at Trinity Hill in the Otter Vale, near Axminster, at around midday.

13-year-old Ryan Hodges, of Mayenne Place in Devizes, photographed an unidentified flying object over Trinity Hill in April 1980

He told the Adver that the UFO travelled through the sky like a very fast aeroplane for at least two minutes then disappeared behind hills in the distance, and at least one other person saw it too.

In April, photographer Colin Kealey produced an enlarged print of the snap and confirmed that the negative had not been altered or tampered with in any way.

Ryan Hodges’ UFO photo, taken in April 1980

In August 1994, sceptical students David Williams and Matthew Morey told us that they had not believed in aliens until a silent UFO that did not appear to be a star, aircraft, or helicopter, flew towards them while they walked over Cricklade's North Meadow in the early hours.

The white ball, which was 30ft above the ground and half the size of a bus, apparently followed the pair of 21-year-olds and then hovered behind a tree as if monitoring them.

RAF Lyenham air traffic controllers confirmed to the Adver that no aircraft were recorded at the time of the eye-witnesses' encounter.

Cue the X Files music...

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